Tap water produces a protective shield against microplastics

Date:
October 21, 2021
Source:
Trinity College Dublin
Summary:
Tap water produces a natural protective shield against harmful
microplastics, which can help prevent household products such as
plastic kettles from releasing them.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
Tap water produces a natural protective shield against harmful
microplastics, which can help prevent household products such as plastic kettles from releasing them. That's according to a team of scientists
from AMBER, the SFI Centre for Advanced Materials and Bioengineering
Research, Trinity College Dublin, and University College Dublin.


==========================================================================
The research published in the Chemical Engineering Journal reveals that
tap water contains trace elements and minerals, which prevent plastics
from degrading in the water and releasing microplastics. Microplastics can carry a range of contaminants such as trace metals and some potentially
harmful organic chemicals.

Previous studies investigating microplastics release have used forms
of pure water, which only exist in laboratories and do not specifically
take into account the ions and impurities found in tap water.

Professor John J Boland from AMBER, and Trinity's School of Chemistry,
who was a co-leader of the research team, said: "It is well known that
plastics can degrade and release microplastics, which can get into the environment and be consumed by humans. Our research shows that many
items such as plastic kettles, which are repeatedly used with tap water,
can develop over time a protective skin that prevents the release of microplastics entirely.

"Because tap water is not 100% pure H2O -- since it contains trace
elements and minerals, what we showed is that if you include these
trace elements and minerals the degradation of plastics in tap water is completely different.

Rather than the plastics falling apart, the minerals coat the plastic
and prevent any kind of degradation and so the product becomes microplastic-free.

For example, that dark brown colour in your kettle is a good thing. It
is copper oxide that forms from copper minerals in your tap water,
which in turn comes from the copper pipes in your house -- all these
combine to give a perfect protection to the kettle.

"This discovery is important because we have learned that
these types of protective skins can be manufactured in the
laboratory and directly applied to the plastic without having
to wait for it to build up naturally. This discovery also shows
that nature is leading the way, pointing to solutions to what
is a very significant problem facing our modern high-tech society." ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Trinity_College_Dublin. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Yunhong Shi, Dunzhu Li, Liwen Xiao, Daragh Mullarkey, Daniel
K. Kehoe,
Emmet D. Sheerin, Sebastian Barwich, Luming Yang, Yurii K. Gun'ko,
Igor V. Shvets, Matthias E. Mo"bius, John J. Boland, Jing
Jing Wang. Real- world natural passivation phenomena can limit
microplastic generation in water. Chemical Engineering Journal,
2022; 428: 132466 DOI: 10.1016/ j.cej.2021.132466 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/10/211021120932.htm

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